Batman Begins
The score for Batman Begins was composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Nolan originally invited Zimmer to compose the music, and Zimmer asked Nolan if he could invite Howard to compose as well, as they had always planned a collaboration. The two composers collaborated on separate themes for the "split personality" of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. Zimmer and Howard began composing in Los Angeles and moved to London where they stayed for twelve weeks to complete most of their writing. Zimmer and Howard sought inspiration for shaping the score by visiting the Batman Begins sets.
Zimmer wanted to avoid writing music that had been done in earlier Batman films, so the score became an amalgamation of orchestra and electronic music. The film's ninety-piece orchestra was developed from members of various London orchestras, and Zimmer chose to use more than the normal number of cellos. Zimmer enlisted a boy soprano to help reflect the music in some of the film's scenes where tragic memories of Bruce Wayne's parents are involved. "He's singing a fairly pretty tune and then he gets stuck, it's like froze, arrested development," said Zimmer. He also attempted to add a human dimension to Batman, whose behavior would typically be seen as "psychotic", through the music. Both composers collaborated to create 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of music for the film, with Zimmer composing the action sequences and Howard focusing on the dramatic scenes.
MAIN ARTICLE
Batman Begins: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. It was released on June 15, 2005. The soundtrack drew from the film score, composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, as well as contributions by Ramin Djawadi, Lorne Balfe and Mel Wesson.
COMPOSITION
Director Christopher Nolan originally invited Zimmer to compose the film score, and Zimmer asked the director if he could invite Howard to compose as well, as they had always planned a composers collaboration. The two composers collaborated on separate themes for the "split personality" of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. Zimmer and Howard began composing in Los Angeles and moved to London where they stayed for 12 weeks to complete most of their writing. Zimmer and Howard sought inspiration for shaping the score by making set visits to Batman Begins.
Zimmer wanted to avoid composing a film score that had been done before, so the score became an amalgamation of orchestra and electronic music. The film's ninety-piece orchestra was developed from members of various London orchestras, and Zimmer chose to use more than the normal number of cellos. Zimmer enlisted a choir boy to help reflect the music in the film's scene where Bruce Wayne's parents are killed. "He's singing a fairly pretty tune and then he gets stuck, it's like froze, arrested development", Zimmer said. Zimmer also attempted to add human dimension to Batman, whose behavior would typically be seen as "psychotic", through the music. Both composers collaborated to create 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of music for the film. Zimmer composed the action sequences, while Howard focused on the film's drama.
CRITICAL RECEPTION
Reviews of the score were positive. Soundtrack.net, for example, in a review by Matt Scheller, said that "the music complements the visuals flawlessly." He called the main action track, Molossus, the best of the soundtrack: "Once this track starts, it never quits." He does admit that the album is heavy on Hans Zimmer's style rather than James Newton Howard's ("I would say 70% Zimmer, 30% Howard"), and that "Hans Zimmer/Media Ventures haters should probably skip this album. His score in the end is four stars out of five."
Movie Music UK was equally positive - Jonathan Broxton claimed that "I personally found that there was a great deal of music in "Batman Begins" that is hugely enjoyable", specifically complimenting "Howard's exceptionally beautiful string elegy [...] during the opening moments of Eptesicus", a motif that recurs in "the achingly emotional Macrotus and Coryhorinus". He did admit that a lack of strong superhero themes and a complete lack of similarities to Danny Elfman's Batman scores, now considered classics, did make the score "unremittingly downbeat". He also rates the album four out of five.
Christian Clemmensen, sole reviewer of Filmtracks.com, was less ready to praise the score, saying that Zimmer and Howard's decision not to use Elfman's material was an attitude that "stinks of laziness". He also considers the theme used to represent Batman, a rising, two-note minor third, inadequate to represent the complex character of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego. Most of these complaints he lays on the shoulders of Zimmer, saying that "you could argue that Zimmer traded in his hoard of lesser-known ghostwriters for one top-notch ghostwriter [Howard]." His final rating is two stars out of five.